


Persistence Hunting

by Revasnaslan



Series: Out of the Depths AU [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Implied Mpreg, Kid Keith (Voltron), Mer Galra, Worldbuilding, because of alien biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 01:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14906015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revasnaslan/pseuds/Revasnaslan
Summary: The First Catch is an important event in every young Galra's life. Keith has just turned five cycles old, so now it's his turn to start learning the basics of hunting small fish from his fathers. Unfortunately, hunting is a little more difficult than it first appeared.





	Persistence Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Two days ago this fic was 2.5k......... I have no idea how this happened.

The sun had already risen by the time Ulaz first awoke—or so he assumed. It was difficult to tell since it was still inside the cave, save for a couple of patches that light streaming down through cracks in the rock. He blinked a couple of times, trying to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting. Keith wasn’t in the nest, although Ulaz vaguely remembered being woken up earlier by Keith squirming and clambering over his bulk to slip out of the nest after Thace had sleepily warned the pup not to leave the cave. Thace was curled up with his face buried in his arms and breathing evenly as he slept.

Ulaz’s ears twitched when he heard one of his trinkets drop off of its nook, clinking lightly against the stone walls of the cave and nestling in the sand at the bottom. Thankfully, it seemed that Keith had decided to heed Thace’s warning—for once—and look through Ulaz’s collection instead of swimming off on his own.

“Oops…” Keith whispered under his breath, barely audible to Ulaz’s ears. Then, Ulaz heard the pup kick his tail fin as he swam down to retrieve whatever he had dropped from the sand. Once he had retrieved the trinket, he started chirping some sort of tune to himself—one that Ulaz recognized as the lullaby that Thace used to sing to him before he had even opened his eyes.

Ulaz sighed, sinking into the nest, feeling his eyes get heavy again. He was just beginning to drift off again when he felt Keith’s weight on his shoulder.

“Papa,” Keith whispered, reaching out to nudge Ulaz’s cheek with a small hand. “Papa?”

“Hmm?” Ulaz hummed sleepily, raising his head to meet Keith’s gaze.

“Is the sun high enough yet?” Keith asked, tilting his head to the side. His fluffy ears were alert as he looked at Ulaz expectantly. “Dad said we had to wait till the sun was high enough!”

Ulaz stretched out in the nest and yawned wide. “Well, we have to check first…” he said, before carefully rolling out of the nest and slipping between the plants to head to the mouth of their cave. He lingered just inside, glancing down when Keith settled against his flank. Lightly ruffling the fur along Keith’s crest, he looked up towards the surface. He couldn’t make out the sun, but it was far too bright for it be dawn any longer. From their depth, it was impossible to tell if it was raining, though, and they couldn’t go to the cove unless it was raining.

Keith nudged against Ulaz’s pectoral fin. “Can we wake up Dad now?” he asked, practically vibrating from his excitement.

“I want to go to the surface and check if it’s raining first,” Ulaz said, kicking his tail fin and gliding out of the cave. He paused, lingering a tail length away and glanced back over his shoulder to find Keith still sitting in the mouth of the cave, watching him with wide eyes. “Come on,” he encouraged, smiling as Keith let out an excited chirp when he realized Ulaz was letting him come along. “The sooner we check, the sooner we can wake your father.”

As Ulaz turned and started heading up towards the surface, he heard Keith kick his tail fin, trying his best to keep up. Normally, Ulaz would have carried him, since he was still small enough for it, but right now, Keith seemed determined to get to the surface on his own. For the time being, Ulaz let him be and instead kept an eye out for opportunistic sharks, only stopping whenever Keith started lagging behind.

As they neared the surface, Keith whistled sharply and started kicking his tail fin harder. It was only a couple of tail lengths now. “Bet I can beat you there!” Keith insisted.

A soft, found smile appeared on Ulaz’s features as he hung back and let Keith take the lead. “I’m sure you can, little remora,” he said.

He didn’t bother to tell Keith to remember to keep below the surface until Ulaz had checked to make sure it was safe. Keith knew better than to do that by now anyway. The pup lingered just beneath the surface as Ulaz carefully poked his head above the water. Just enough that his eyes were visible and he could disappear in a moment’s notice if he needed to. Upon confirming there weren’t any signs of danger, he ducked beneath the water again, where Keith was waiting and watching him expectantly.

“It’s safe,” he said, and Keith excitedly chirped before poking his head above the water. Then, he clambered up onto Ulaz’s shoulder, carefully maintaining his balance by clutching the fur of Ulaz’s crest in one of his small hands.

Once Keith was situated, Ulaz began looking around. Even though Keith held little interest in it, checking the weather was the only reason they had come up in here in the first place. They had been postponing going to the cove because of the storm that had been moving through. Right now, though, the water was calmer than it had been the last couple of days. Even though Keith was getting older and could hold his own against somewhat stronger currents, fishing was better taught when the water wasn’t as choppy. There was also very little wind, and a soft drizzle was falling, but there weren’t any bright flashes of lightning or rolls of thunder in the distance.

“Papa, look!” Keith said suddenly. He leaned forward, covering one of Ulaz’s eyes with his hand as he tried to maintain his balance. “There’s a butt!”

“That’s a _boat_ , Keith,” Ulaz corrected gently, ears perking ever so slightly in curiosity when he noticed the small boat that was floating in the water nearby. It was too small to have very many humans on it—from this distance, Ulaz could make out two or three milling around on it. Had he been alone, he might have ventured closer in order to attempt to listen to them…

But with Keith here, he didn’t dare.

“What are they doing?” Keith asked. “Dad says they do all sorts of silly things…”

Ulaz let out an amused trill. “Your father is right about that,” he agreed. “They do all sorts of silly things like releasing fish and…” He trailed off when he saw one of the human leaned back before swishing a long black rod through the air. Immediately his ears drew back as he recognized the tool. The humans were fishing… luckily, none of them were trying to throw bait in Ulaz and Keith’s direction, but he didn’t want to risk it. Keith could very easily try to grab for bait, not knowing any better, and get injured. Ulaz knew from experience that grabbing human’s bait really hurt if the hook got caught.

“We need to go home now, little remora,” Ulaz said calmly, but firmly. He hoped he didn’t sound too nervous, not wanting to upset or scare Keith.

“Aww…” Keith mumbled before sliding off of Ulaz’s shoulder and into the water again.

Ulaz followed him after making absolutely sure that they hadn’t been spotted—the humans continued fishing without hooting or hollering as they were prone to doing when they saw something unusual. When Ulaz disappeared beneath the waves again, he found Keith was pouting, arms crossed over his chest. Tilting his head, Ulaz reached forward and lightly ruffled beneath the pup’s ears. “What’s with the face?” he asked with a teasing edge to his tone. “Your father isn’t going to like seeing you upset…”

At the mention of Thace, Keith’s mood immediately improved—his ears perked straight up and his expression lit up. It was almost as if in all the excitement of seeing humans, he had completely forgotten that they had left Thace still sleeping back in the cave. “Can we go wake him since it’s raining?” he asked hopefully.

“Yes, we can,” Ulaz said, before giving Keith a nudge back in the direction of the seafloor. The swim back to the cave took a little bit less time than the swim to the surface had, as Keith was _much_ more excited. He swam as fast as he could kick his tail fin. Ulaz followed a couple of tail lengths behind him, and watched as Keith darted into the cave, shouting for Thace. No more than a tick later, there was a yelp as Keith must have landed square on Thace’s back and woke him up. As Ulaz drifted into the cave, he could hear Thace groaning softly while Keith chattered away.

“Da-ad!” Keith said, shaking Thace’s shoulder in an attempt to wake him up. “Get up, get up! Papa said it’s okay to go!”

“Oh, did he?” Thace mumbled, voice heavy with sleep. He had yet to open his eyes, curling up with his back to the mouth of the cave while Keith clambered over his shoulder to tumble into the nest. “Did he also tell you it’s rude to wake people up before they’re ready?”

Keith pouted, shaking his head. “No…”

Ulaz lingered at the edge of the nest, floating above them. He tilted his head to the side, watching fondly as Thace’s ear flicked and Keith’s eyes widened before he started batting at it. “I supposed I should have…” he admitted.

“Mm… you should have…” Thace said, half-turning onto his back, reaching out to smooth his hand over the top of Keith’s head. “Is it raining, little remora?”

Keith nodded. “Papa and me went up to check,” he said excitedly. “I swam all the way by myself!”

Thace hummed softly, ears twitching in amusement. “Alright, Keith…” he said through a yawn, stretching and flexing his tail fin. “I’m up…” He still seemed half-awake as he rolled out of the nest, eyes bleary. Ulaz smiled, leaning down to lightly butt his nose against Thace’s temple. A soft, sleepy chirp left Thace as he leaned into the touch.

“And good morning to you,” Thace said, returning Ulaz’s smile.

“Dad! Papa!” Keith shouted impatiently from the mouth of the cave.

Thace sighed heavily, turning away from Ulaz as he shook his head fondly. “Come on… before he self-combusts.”

Keith’s excitement was understandable, of course. Small pups his age generally started practicing their hunting once they reached five cycles—Keith’s name day had only just recently passed. The last half moon had been filled with Keith begging to go out and hunt for more than small minnows. Thace had been hesitant, due to more human activity close to shore recently, making it difficult to find a spot for them to practice. However, when they had smelled rain on the horizon, they had decided to take Keith as soon as the water settled out.

Keith’s fur was fluffed up in excitement. “Can I try swimming on my own?” he asked hopefully, tilting his head to the side as he fell in at Thace’s flank.

Thace’s ears twitched as if they were going to pin back, and he looked rather upset that Keith didn’t want to ride on his back like usual. But he sighed softly nonetheless. “Alright,” he said. “But if you start getting tired, tell me and I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

—

The shore was rather far from the cave, although it didn’t seem that Keith noticed—or perhaps he didn’t want Thace to start fussing and insist that he take a rest. Ulaz hung back and brought up the rear, following about a tail length behind them. He watched as Keith chattered excitedly about going up to the surface earlier that morning, and Thace made sure to listen intently, hanging onto every word. By the time they reached the cove, the sun must have been high in the sky, judging by the brightness of the clouds. Keith was also huffing, and while he had seemed excited on the trip over, he visibly deflated when he saw where they were.

“I thought we were going hunting,” he mumbled, ears pinning back in disappointment.

“Before you go after the big fish, you have to practice on the small ones,” Thace assured him, lightly smoothing a hand over Keith’s crest, between his fluffy ears.

“But I wanted to catch a spearnose, like in Papa’s stories!” Keith complained.

“A spearnose could swallow you up whole,” Ulaz said, cutting in and ignoring the unamused look Thace shot him. “They’re _incredibly_ difficult to catch.”

Keith’s pouted irritably, not looking convinced. “But Regris said he caught a fish that was bigger than he was!”

Having been there for that catch, Ulaz knew that Regris had vastly overstated the size of his catch—probably in an attempt to impress the only other pup in the pod who would still listen to his stories. “Everyone starts on small fish,” Ulaz said firmly.

“And, if you practice, then maybe you’ll catch an even bigger fish,” Thace added before he nudged Keith in the direction of the cove. “Now, come along… before the rain clears up.”

While Keith seemed a little disappointed, his ears had shifted forward in interest and he seemed to be just a bit more curious. As Thace drifted into the cove, Keith glanced back at Ulaz, as if looking for some kind of encouragement. When Ulaz nodded, Keith darted after Thace, sticking close to his flank. Ulaz lingered at the mouth of the cove prepared to corral any fish back towards Keith if they tried to escape. It wasn’t a tactic that was meant to make it easier for Keith to hunt, but rather a legitimate hunting tactic that they frequently used out in deeper waters when hunting in pairs.

“Now, where do you think the fish are hiding, little remora?” Thace asked, stopping beside the large boulder that sat in the middle of the cove and jutted out of the water. Thick plant life surrounded the base of it, making it a prime hiding spot for fish. Ulaz caught flashes of silver as small fish darted between the leaves, and Keith seemed to notice them too, as his ears perked up. Without a moment of hesitation, Keith darted forward, diving into the plants. The fish scattered, and Keith emerged with nothing more than a mouthful of seaweed for his trouble. Keith’s ears pinned back in embarrassment as his fur fluffed up in embarrassment, but Thace came forward, lightly pulling the lingering plants out of Keith’s fur.

“You can’t just dive in like that,” Thace said, offering an encouraging smile before he led Keith over to another group of plants. “But don’t worry, there are plenty of other places we can try.”

Keith didn’t respond. Instead, he wordlessly followed, looking dejected that hunting the fish here wasn’t as easy as chasing after minnows had been when he was much smaller. Thace stopped in front of another grouping of plants, one that Ulaz had seen some of the fish take refuge in after Keith had flushed them out of their hiding place.

“You have to stun them,” Thace continued.

“Stun… them?” Keith said quietly, brow furrowing in confusion.

“Mmhmm,” Thace hummed as he approached the plants again. “Watch.” He lashed out, swatting at the plants with his tail and causing half a dozen fish to bolt from their hiding place. Quickly, Thace brought his tail down with a harsh smack, stunning one of the fish before it could get away.

Keith stared, wide-eyed and in awe as Thace swiftly killed the fish with a bite to the spine. “Can I try?” Keith asked hopefully. His earlier excitement seemed to have coming crawling back, and his ears perked up in anticipation.

“Go and give this to Papa first,” Thace said, handing the fish over to him. He lingered for half a tick before darting off to circle around the cove to search for another group of plants that they could practice on.

Keith took the fish into his jaws, struggling to hold it properly given the size of the fish. His swim towards Ulaz was awkward, as he was leaning heavily on one side. But as soon as Thace disappeared around the rock in the center of the cove, Ulaz met Keith halfway, lightly ruffling his headfur before accepting the fish.

“I’ll catch a bigger one,” Keith insisted, puffing out his chest. “The biggest!”

“I’m sure you will,” Ulaz said, offering an encouraging smile.

Thace cut around the rock again, ears alert. “Are you ready to try?” he asked, and Keith nodded quickly before they both darted off, heading closer to shore. Ulaz followed them, carrying the fish in his hands. While he had intended to begin dissecting the kill to check for hooks, his focus was entirely on Keith.

Keith’s excitement waned as Thace stopped in front of another group of plants, and he watched them shift in the current with wide eyes. “You’re sure there’s fish in there, Dad?” he asked, ears pinning back in worry.

Thace hummed softly and nodded. “Yes, of course,” he said, before giving Keith a gentle but firm nudge towards the plants. “Go on.”

Face set in a mix of apprehension and determination, Keith moved forward, hesitating once he was within striking distance with his tail. He nervously glanced back at Thace, who smiled encouragingly, and then Ulaz, who mimicked Thace. After taking a deep breath, Keith disturbed the plants. Three or four fish burst out and started swimming past before Keith attempted to mimic what Thace had done. He twisted in the water to swat at one of the fish with his tail. However, his strike wasn’t hard enough to stun the fish, so it darted away, disappearing past Ulaz before he could try to corral it back.

Keith stared off after the fish, eyes wide and ears pinned back completely. The absolutely devastated look on his face caused Ulaz’s heart to seize in his chest, and he immediately moved forward to comfort the pup. Thace was quicker, though, carefully curling his tail around Keith to draw him close.

“You didn’t hit it hard enough,” Thace said gently as he smooth a hand over Keith’s headfur. “You can always try aga—” He cut off as Keith shied away, squirming out of his grasp and darting off towards the surface, where he struggled to clamber onto the rock in the center of the cove. Thace’s ears pinned back as he turned to follow after the pup, but Ulaz caught his arm, holding him back. He glanced at Ulaz, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

“I’ll talk to him,” Ulaz offered, releasing Thace’s arm. “You can go and get something to eat… I’ll bring him back after he’s calmed down.”

Thace hesitated for a moment before he sighed and nodded. “Better go and check to make sure there aren’t any humans up there…” he said before he disappeared from the cove.

Only once Thace had vanished from sight did Ulaz go to the surface. Warily, he poked his head above the water, checking the surrounding beach and rocks for any signs of humans. Thankfully, there were none on the beach, despite the lack of a drizzle. After making sure it was safe, Ulaz turned to the rocks to check on Keith. The pup had managed to climb up onto the rocks at the center of the cove all by himself, lying out on his stomach and staring out over the water with his chin resting on his arms.

“Can I join you?” Ulaz asked as he approached the rocks.

Keith’s fluffy ears perked at the sound of Ulaz’s voice, and he looked up. Even though he was clearly upset with a pout in place, he nodded mutely, and Ulaz easily pulled himself out of the water and onto the rock. As he began dissecting the fish that Thace had caught earlier, to make sure there were no hooks stuck inside it, he noticed how Keith was watching what he was doing with interest.

“Papa?” Keith asked, ears twitching as he crawling closer.

“Hm?” Ulaz hummed, glancing at him.

Keith frowned as he leaned against Ulaz’s shoulder. “How come you cut open fish like that? Both you and Dad do it… _and_ Van and Ani and—”

“Because humans sometimes leave hooks in them,” Ulaz explained, carefully slicing into the fish with his claws. There hadn’t been any signs of hooks stuck in the skin of this fish, but it didn’t hurt to be thorough. Especially when Keith would likely be trying to snag some of this fish once it was cut up.

Keith looked confused. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Ulaz admitted. “But hooks—”

“What’s a hook?” Keith cut in, ears tilting forward in interest at the new word. He carefully ducked, squirming underneath of Ulaz’s arm to sit underneath of his chin.

“They’re little barbed things—like a stingray,” Ulaz said, only elaborating when Keith looked as though he was going to ask what a barb was. “And they curl, like this…” He reached out, tracing the shape along the grooves in the rock. Keith appeared to be absolutely fascinated, and even reached out to mimic Ulaz. Keith had never seen a hook before, and in spite of his habit of collecting human trinkets, Ulaz hadn’t owned a hook in many, many cycles. He had had a small collection of them in the past, but when he had found out that Thace was expecting a pup, he had gotten rid of anything that could’ve been potentially. His hooks had been amongst the first things to go.

“Humans use them to help catch fish,” Ulaz finished, and Keith quieted, seeming satisfied with that explanation.

Curiosity sated, Keith didn’t seem to see any need to ask further questions. Ulaz continued cutting into the meat of the fish around the tail fin, only stopping when he noticed swelling there. Carefully, he sliced the fish open, spreading the meat apart to reveal brightly colored eggs that were collected in the tail. Keith let out a soft, excited gasp at the sight and he eagerly reached out. Fish eggs was a treat that was mostly reserved for pups and expecting parents, but no hunter would actively go out and look for a spawning fish unless it was a special occasion. Before Keith had been born, Ulaz had caught one or two for Thace as a special treat since Thace hadn’t been able to hunt for himself for moons.

“Try not to get it in your fur,” Ulaz teased lightly. Keith hummed softly, mouth full, although he didn’t seem too concerned. Ears twitching in amusement as he added, “Or else your father is going to try to give you a bath.”

Keith swallowed and stuck his tongue out in distaste for the idea. Ulaz chuckled and speared a chunk of fish meat he was sure was free of hooks on one of his claws and offered it to Keith, who eagerly took it.

“Papa?” Keith asked with a mouth full of fish. “You said humans use hooks to fish too?”

“Oh, sure,” Ulaz said. “I’ve seen them hunt sharks before… they put the hooks on the ends of little, thin strings…” Even after observing humans since he was a young pup, he still had no idea what the string was actually called.

Keith tilted his head to the side curiously. “Like… jellyfish?”

“Yes, except the strings don’t sting if you touch them,” Ulaz said. His ears drew back, remembering the humans that they had seen from afar earlier that morning. They had been fishing, and Keith had seemed extremely curious about them and what they were doing. It was a miracle he hadn’t swam off to try and get a better look. He had all of Ulaz’s curiosity and none of his self preservation. Though, pups rarely did, especially at Keith’s age. He had been begging for moons to accompany Ulaz to the docks, but kept receiving a no.

Seeming to have lost his appetite, Keith stopped mid-bite and set the half-eaten chunk of the fish to the side. “What if I used hooks to hunt?” he suggested, ears perking straight up. “That would make hunting easier!”

Ulaz chuckled softly as his ears twitched in amusement. “You have claws, little remora… why would you need hooks?” he teased, lightly bumping his nose against the pups temple. Keith deflated and gave a noncommittal hum—evidently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Sighing, Ulaz ran his hand over Keith’s crest. “You know… when I was a pup, I had trouble with my First Catch too…”

Learning to hunt as a Wanderer was difficult—mostly because he and his mothers and grandmother had rarely stayed in one place for more than a half moon, so they had often had trouble finding secluded places to practice. However, the techniques that were taught were exactly the same. His mothers had taught him how to stun small fish first, making sure the fish were properly corralled so that Ulaz could chase after them.

Keith seemed perplexed by that. “But… you’re the best hunter!” he said insistently. “You’ve caught spearnoses…”

“And how do you think I got there?” Ulaz asked, cutting off a bite-sized chunk of the fish and popping it into his mouth. “I practiced… a lot. But I never gave up. You’ll get there too, if you keep practicing.”

They stayed on the rock for a little while longer until the fish was nothing but bones. Keith had ended up eating most of it, but Ulaz didn’t mind. He could hunt for himself later, after Keith’s lesson was finished. Hopefully, it would end with him being successful in catching a fish. The rain had started again, lightly pattering against the stone. Keith huddled against Ulaz’s chest, trying to get out of the rain to the best of his ability, while Ulaz was unperturbed, hunching over to shield the pup.

Lightly, Ulaz nudged Keith’s temple with his nose. “Are you ready to try again?”

With a newfound look of determination, Keith nodded and slid back into the water, with Ulaz following right after. Thace was waiting beneath the surface for them, ears pinned back when he saw them. However, he visibly relaxed when he noticed that Keith’s mood had improved and he approached them.

“How did it go?” Thace whispered to Ulaz, tilting his head.

“Very well, actually,” Ulaz said.

“Papa taught me about hooks,” Keith added firmly. “And he said I didn’t need them!”

Thace let out an amused trill, gently guiding Keith over to another group of plants. “No, I suppose you don’t,” he agreed. “Now, remember to hit it hard.”

Keith nodded before he moved forward, ears perked as he observed the plants. From where he was floating with Thace, Ulaz could see a couple of flashes of scales between the leaves. Taking a deep breath, Keith’s ears set back before he darted forward, disturbing the plants. And this time, when a fish darted past him, Keith _whacked_ it with his tail fin. He hit it with enough force to send it flying out of the water and it landed a couple of tail lengths away with a soft _plop_. Then, Keith darted off, grabbing hold of the fish to quickly kill it by biting just below its head.

Ulaz was too stunned to say anything and when he glanced at Thace, he found his mate’s jaw had dropped.

“I did it!” Keith announced, smiling brightly as he presented his catch.

Thace’s reaction was immediate as he broke out in a happy trill, gathering Keith up in his arms and nuzzling the pup while Keith giggled happily and snuggled in. “I’m so proud of you!” Thace said excitedly, before turning to look over his shoulder at Ulaz. “Laz, did you see how he sent the fish flying?”

Ulaz mutely nodded as he approached, wrapping an arm around Thace’s shoulders. Keith and Thace’s excited chattering continued, and Ulaz listened to every word, unable to help his smile.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [revasnaslan](http://revasnaslan.tumblr.com/)


End file.
